Of Wanting more and expectations...

Expectations are good....but sometimes...too much will leave you "paralyzed "....
* Paralyzed = mental stress / burden / negative anticipation...

Last Sunday , I went to my ex-church...and the sermon from the guest speaker really hit me...like God's telling me something..

I've been living on people's expectations since young...erm that doesn't mean that my parents give me tons of stress in my studies...but other people like my relatives...expect more from the outside...especially my body weight ( like what i've said many times before... )

I'm the product of expectations...it resulted in several improvement yet "defects " in me...no doubt.

In history , men never fails to stop climbing for success and wanting more and more
( e.g : getting a diploma -> degree -> masters -> pH.D )

But in Ecclesiates 1 : 1-11 somehow says that most of the things we chase in life is utterly meaningless...

Everything Is Meaningless

¹ The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
² “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”
³ What do people gain from all their labors
at which they toil under the sun?
⁴ Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
⁶ The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
⁷ All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
⁸ All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
⁹ What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
¹¹ No one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them.
Everyone is chasing so many things...but Solomon once said that Everything is " HABEL "

*Habel = short ....like a short breath you blow out during a cold weather...it's that brief...

Asian cultures in general , have very different lifestyle and values compared to their Western counterparts...

Chinese people in general , are always busy chasing for more and more fortune so that they can save everything for the next generation...

But can a HUGE fortune last ?

There's once a Chinese saying which says that " Fortune doesn't last after the 3rd generation "

and there's already a clear example...

The founder of Kuala Lumpur was very rich , having many lands and properties ( around 100 shops ) ...however , generation after generation , the fortune , lands and properties disappear...and the 4th generation , that guy , can't even get a loan or something ( sorry , i'm not very good in mandarin..and the sermon was in mandarin ) ...and recently the government just aided that guy...

In contrast with the Chinese , Western people don't really bother about saving their fortune for their children. For them , they raise their kids until they graduate from university...and after university , their children will have to find their own job and work their way up the corporate ladder AND earn THEIR own money...somehow , I find this a good practice =D

If you notice , most of the billionaires in USA plans to donate 99.9% of their fortune to charity, leaving only 1% for their family members to divide...Bill Gates and Paris Hilton's grandfather are some of the billionaires who are pledging to donate 99.9% of their fortune to the least fortunate...

How shocking ay ?

The suicide rate in our weirder and more bizarre world is also rising...

in the year 2000 , > 81 million people die from suicide , which means that suicide claims 1 victim every 40 seconds ...

you think this is scary ?

in the year 2010 , suicide claims 1 victim every 3 seconds...!!!!!

what a JUMP !

Bible told us that we must live our life with knowledge and honour God ..We must have God in us , to experience these necessities , fortune and most importantly , our valuable life...

So....what is Happiness ? ( another topic )

Happiness sounds very far reach for many of us ( including me who've recently went through a depression period as what i've mention previously )

but most of us take many things for granted

1 ) Thank God if you can sleep without being disturbed from war / calamities etc..
2 ) Thank God if you can wake up after you slept the night before because many just sleep
forever
3) Thank God if you can eat without pain and without an anxious mind and burden
4 ) Thank God if you are loved
5 ) Thank God if your country is at peace
6 ) Thank God if you eat with your family , no one is missing because they are killed or kidnapped
7 ) Thank God if you go home and there are people waiting for your return
8 ) Thank God if you have the money to buy your necessities and your wants
9 ) Thank God if you have a time to read a good book and have success being recorded
10 ) Thank God if there's a person missing you
11 ) Thank God that you love someone...

and the list goes on...

All in all , God have to be the foundation of our lives...i'm not here to sound holy or to lecture people...coz to be honest , I have many doubts that need to be cleared off to start with...and I just share this because I'm prompted to..

part of the credits goes to the chinese speaker who preach the sermon...it inspires this post a lot ;)